The Aaron Judge contract situation has been one of the biggest stories for the New York Yankees throughout the team’s abbreviated 2022 spring training. Well, it seems the team has offered their All-Star outfielder a new deal and it’s sizable.
Judge is finishing out his rookie contract and is in the last year of arbitration eligibility. Making it important that the Yankees try and lock up their best everyday player for the long-term instead of letting him test his value on the free-agent market and get wined and dined this winter.
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Aaron Judge contract offer upwards of $30 million per year
However, it has been a slower than expected process for the franchise long known for easily handing out massive contracts. Yet, this week finally brought the move Yankees fans have been waiting all year for. The team has finally handed down a contract offer to Judge.
- Aaron Judge stats (2021): .287 AVG, .373 OBP .544 SLUG, 39 HR, 98 RBI
During an appearance on New York sports radio station WFAN, MLB Network insider Jon Heyman revealed that the team has extended an offer that would make their star one of the 15 highest-paid athletes in the sport. However, it won’t have the number of seasons that other elite talents like Mike Trout and Mookie Betts landed in their most recent pacts with the Los Angeles Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers, respectively.
“They were expected to make an offer, and I believe they did so last weekend. My understanding is they’re willing to pay in the range of $30 million a year maybe over, but the years are going to be a question, and my belief is they’re not going to want to go near Trout and Betts,” Heyman said on Thursday … “The Yanks want to keep an extension around six or seven years, the latter of which would take Judge through his age 37 season.”
The Yankees being unwilling to offer a 12-year deal, as Betts ($365 million) and Trout ($426.5 million) received from their teams, is a sensible decision. Despite being in the league for only six seasons, Judge will turn 30 later this month. He is older than both of his outfield contemporaries when they got their massive contract hauls. Even a nine or ten year accord would be a very risky proposition for the team, and have had a few major deals gone bad in recent years, the team’s apprehension for unusually long contracts is understandable.